How conference rescheduling has changed the map

It’s a time of change in college football.

The calendar changes from June to July, which means that the composition of various conferences in the sports landscape is officially changing.

The latest wave of realignment began in July 2021 when news broke that Oklahoma and Texas would be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. That monumental move won’t take effect until next summer, but it created a major ripple effect in college athletics as conferences rushed to ensure stability.

One of the impending changes is UCLA and USC’s cross-country journey from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. While that move also won’t officially happen until July 2024 (there’s also the expansion of the College Football Playoffs to 12 teams in 2024), 14 FBS schools will officially move conferences on Saturday, July 1.

Here’s a look at what’s different in 2023 and what could be on the horizon.

Big 12 officially adds 4 new members

With the departure of its two most prominent members, Oklahoma and Texas, the Big 12 was in a weak position. Commissioner Bob Bowlsby had to act quickly with the prospect of his league having just eight members or imploding altogether.

And that’s exactly what he did. Bowlsby, who has since retired, was quick to add BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF to the Big 12. The formal invites were announced on September 10, 2021, less than two months after the Houston Chronicle’s first news report the start of a new wave of realignment.

BYU had been operating as an independent FBS since the 2011 season after leaving the Mountain West and was angling to participate in a power conference. The other three will transfer from the American Athletic Conference. Houston has enjoyed recent success, particularly in men’s basketball, and naturally matches the other Texas-based Big 12 members in terms of geography. Cincinnati also has a rich basketball history and has been a perennial football contender with UCF on top of the AAC. Adding UCF also brings Big 12 football to Florida’s fertile recruiting grounds.

For the 2023 season, the Big 12 will operate as a 14-team conference, with Oklahoma and Texas playing one final year before going to the SEC.

AAC brings in 6 new members

After three of the top schools in the American Athletic Conferences were raided by the Big 12, the trickle-down effect continued with the AAC reaching Conference USA.

First, the AAC pursued Mountain West members such as Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, and San Diego State. In October 2021, all four chose to remain with the MWC.

From there, the AAC (which was down to eight members) flipped and reached agreements with six Conference USA members: Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA.

On October 21, 2021, the news became official, creating a 14-team football conference. Those six C-USA schools will play football in East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa. Navy is a football-only member. Wichita State is also a member of the AAC, but does not have a football program.

With the new teams added for 2023, the AAC has eliminated divisions and is playing an eight-game league schedule.

Sun Belt has previously added multiple C-USA schools

With those six schools leaving for the AAC, C-USA suddenly had only eight members. Three of those remaining members Southern Miss, Old Dominion and Marshall didn’t want to wait and see what happened to Conference USA. Instead, they jumped at the chance to join the Sun Belt.

Before October 2021 ended, all three officially became Sun Belt members. In the months that followed, they all accelerated their exit from C-USA in time to debut in the Sun Belt last fall.

The Sun Belt also added James Madison from the FCS level to create a 14-member conference.

Conference USA left to pick up the pieces

Conference USA was on the brink of complete collapse with six members leaving for the AAC and three others heading for the Sun Belt. That left five remaining members Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, UTEP and Western Kentucky.

Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky had subsequently flirted with the MAC, but decided to stick with C-USA as the conference worked to add new members. Liberty and the State of New Mexico joined after previously being independent from the FBS. The conference also added Jacksonville State and Sam Houston from the FCS level.

With the additions of Liberty, NMSU, Jacksonville State and Sam Houston, C-USA will operate as a nine-team football conference in 2023. In addition, Kennesaw State will transition from FCS to FBS and join the conference in 2024 to complete the 10. – team configuration.

For 2023, the league will have no divisions and play an eight-game conference schedule. And like the MAC, C-USA is getting some national spotlight by playing many of its games on weeknights starting in October.

Pac-12 media rights deal looms in next phase of reshuffling

All eyes are on the Pac-12, which is in a vulnerable state.

The conference struggled to secure a new media rights deal. That was even before UCLA and USC decided to leave for the Big Ten. Those departures caused the total value of the league’s broadcast inventory to take a huge hit, and it also increased the urgency of trying to close a deal.

Big Tens’ new deal with Fox, CBS and NBC begins July 1. SEC’s exclusive ESPN deal starts next year. The Big 12 reached an extension to 2030-31 with ESPN and Fox. The granting of rights by the ACC has it in media purgatory until 2036.

The Pac-12’s impending broadcast contract will play a huge role in dictating the course of its future. If Commissioner George Kliavkoff can strike a deal consistent with the Big 12s (reportedly about $32 million a year for its members), the remaining 10 members of the conferences could choose to stick together. If not, some members may look for other alternatives to ensure more income.

As always, finances are the main driver here, and the Big 12 could be poised to strike.

The Big 12 is open to further expansion, Commissioner Brett Yormark said in early June at the conclusion of the league’s spring meetings. According to multiple reports, Colorado has held talks with the Big 12, which is reportedly eyeing CU along with Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah.

Other schools such as UConn, Memphis, and Gonzaga have emerged in media reports as potential options for further Big 12 expansion. Gonzaga is a West Coast Conference basketball power that does not have a football program. UConn, the defending champions in men’s basketball, left the AAC for the Big East in basketball and plays football as an independent.

We have a plan, Yorkmark said. We feel like being a national conference in our composition from coast to coast. We love our current lineup, love the four new schools coming in the next month. However, if the opportunity to create value arises, we will pursue it. It is a focus of ours.

There is also the status of the state of San Diego, which has informed the Mountain West that it intends to leave the conference. SDSU has long been linked to the Pac-12 (which wants to maintain a presence in Southern California), but the lack of a new Pac-12 media rights deal appears to be hampering SDSU’s exit plan.

The ACC’s 14 members are tied together by the conference’s ESPN deal that runs through 2036. It’s not an ideal situation, as the other leagues will have to renegotiate their media deals before the ACC’s rights grant expires. A lot of ACC schools are dissatisfiedas evidenced by the new revenue sharing model coming into effect in 2024, but there are many legal hurdles to overcome before any of them can break away from the conference.

Meanwhile, the SEC and Big Ten, which have now distanced themselves in terms of revenue from the rest of the pack, loom quietly in the background.

Both the Oklahoma-Texas and UCLA-USC departures came from left field, so perhaps the best advice as we enter a new era is to expect the unexpected.